Choosing an in-home machine

[Thalandor46]

Hello all!

I am pretty much a fitness noob, so here is my super exciting story! I hope it will help me find an answer. I did martial arts since I was 6 years old, and as a result was in great shape up until I moved across the country for college at 18. Then I did just about everything I could possibly do wrong in college, stopped exercising, frequent fast food, the works. Coming out of college, I had gained about 50 pounds. This was rather eye opening. I took some measures to try to get myself back on track, primarily in terms of diet. That started about 2 years ago, and I'm proud to say that I've lost between 35 and 40 of those 50 pounds I had gained. Great! However, I still think I could look better. I'm certainly thinner and need to buy smaller jeans, but I still have some belly on me, and I'm just overall unimpressed when I look at myself in the mirror.

The moral of the story is that I would like to do some sort of exercise. I've tried getting myself to a nearby gym, but I'm finding this difficult for a number of reasons, and I'm pretty much getting myself on a treadmill only once a month. I'm quite sure that if I had a machine at home, it would be much easier to just throw something to watch on my TV and go at it much more frequently.

So, with all of that, I come to my question. What kind of machine should I get? Treadmill, bike, elliptical, other? While "best workout" for my kind of situation is my main criteria, factors such as compactness, storability, automation, and ease of use are also important. Also, I can't really afford to spend more than $1000 total.

Hope the story provided some useful information for my question. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

[cheekygit]

Mate if your looking for overall weight loss and fitness then simply invest in some dumbells, barbell and a bench work on the big compound movements and you will loose the weight and gain some muscle too.

 

[summer123]

They key to any fitness plan is variation and moderation. Exercise is like diet, you cannot just eat nothing, get your weight down and then start eating how you were again, you have to implement changes that will stay in place for the rest of your life, weather it be exercise or diet.

A cross trainer (elliptical machine) tends to be the most favored as you can get slightly more workouts as some models allow you to work in reverse. Its also low impact so your less likely to get injuries.

But a treadmill can also be good- not many peole push it to its extreme, you can side-step on the treadmill, walk backwards, run on a steep incline, most of the time I just watch people gripping hold of the bar and walking on the steepest gradient- bit pointless as most of the workout starts and finishes in your ball-and-socket-joint as you haul yourself along the machines path. Who here can say they really want to workout their shoulder joints above their abs, thighs or heart? daft? but not as daft as those that read magazines while doing this- hunchback generation here we come!
Treadmills can risk more injury as it has more inpact on your back and legs but as long as you rest well and stretch well and wear appropiate footware, maintain good posture, you shoul be fine.

I guess at the end of the day though, it really depends on what you find keeps you focused, some people prefer to run for ages, others like to cycle. No one is above the other but remeber that your body will become used to whatever you throw at it, it will have less of an impact and so you need to make sure you have additional plans. Running outside in the summer? swimming? playing sports games or boot camp military style groups? mix things up, add in additional things, otherwise you'll get bored and stop or your body wont be as pushed as it needs to be.

A fitness plan is for life, unless you want those last few pounds to creep back on again.

 

[Spinner1964]

I think I must have tried every type of home gym equipment from full weight machines to rower, treadmill and spinner bike plus free standing weights.

I learned:
- I didn't like just having a dedicated gym so I put a spinner bike in the lounge
- The fixed weight machine only worked one muscle group at a time and was inefficient (unless I wanted to be a buff body builder)
- Free standing weights were very flexible and worked more muscle groups plus I could include some in the lounge
- A treadmill took up way too much room plus daily high impact was wrecking my back
- I don't like rowing because I prefer exercise that has me on my feet

It's a very personal decision based on your preferred exercises and lifestyle.

I like a high cardio programme with a mix of weights and core work.

My advice is to think through the work outs you like to do, decide how you can integrate that into your home and select a blend of equipment.

 

[bcarpman]

Cheeky is right. You're looking at the wrong equipment. Buying a piece of cardio equipment is am almost sure road to failure and also not cost effective.

If you're dead set on a cardio machine, I highly recommend either a stationary bike (inexpensive, reliable, real life) or preferably, a used stairmaster (best cardio workout you'll ever get, and it will actually build a little muscle in your legs which is really the best long term way to lose and maintain weight, hence the recommendation of some cheap dumbbells).

Sorry to disagree with the other poster, but ellipticals are probably the worst advice. Without getting into a long explaination, they are the machine for people who want to fool themselves into thinking they're working out. The lack of impact arguement is long disproven as having any real relavance.

 

[Spinner1964]

Cheeky is right.
Sorry to disagree with the other poster, but ellipticals are probably the worst advice. Without getting into a long explaination, they are the machine for people who want to fool themselves into thinking they're working out. The lack of impact arguement is long disproven as having any real relavance.

I don't like the motion of the elliptical. It feels weird to me. But I would not discourage anyone from any form of exercise. Better to do a session on an elliptical than sit on your butt! And besides, once people get fitter and more comfortable with their exercise programme they can then explore all the available gear.

Cheeky is right.
If you're dead set on a cardio machine, I highly recommend either a stationary bike (inexpensive, reliable, real life) or preferably, a used stairmaster (best cardio workout you'll ever get, and it will actually build a little muscle in your legs which is really the best long term way to lose and maintain weight, hence the recommendation of some cheap dumbbells).

A 'spin' bike is the closest you can get to a real bike because unlike an upright bike it has a wheel and you can stand on it (mountain bikers often use them to train on). I always stand on my bike and use a range of riding positions (other than sitting) which gives a degree of upper body work plus you can ride to a high resistance which builds the leg and glut muscles while strengthening the core.

As you say, they are fairly inexpensive and you can get a well priced reconditioned bike but check for rust (I broke the pedal off my first bike because the interior bolt was rusted).

Also you can get a chain or a band which drives the wheel. I have found the band version allows for smoother movement which means you can go faster to higher resistance.

All that said, Cheeky has a point. I also have barbells, bench and various weights. However, I recommend you buy hand barbells that allow you to adjust the weight as fixed weights can be limiting. And punch bags are great fun if you have the right type of space.

 

[jimaug87]

It sounds like your focusing on buying a piece of cardio equipment, and I agree with bcarpman that it will be a waste. If you want cardio go for a run, do 1000 jumping jacks, do up-downs, ect, ect...

Being a fitness noob I suggest you buy an Iron Gym and a small, simple set of dumbells or an adjustable, all-in-one dumbell set.

With these tools you can do pull ups, chin ups, push ups, squats, deadlifts, and many more basic, effective exercises. These are all you need to do when you're first starting.

Also, a bench will ad a whole bunch more exercises available.

Everybody should have some kind of resistance trainging program to get a more total workout. Plus, if your motivation to exercise more is because you don't like the way you look in the mirror moremuscle is a must.

 

[Spinner1964]

I do agree that you can get a cardio workout without using equipment. For a start you can just take a jog or do fast paced resistance training (i.e jumping jacks, burpees, pull-ups, push-ups, etc).

However, cardio equipment makes it easy to do cardio work and, if you use the right equipment in the right way, you can still develop muscle.

Cardio burns fat so it's good for any weight loss but more importantly it makes it easy to raise the heart rate and hold it there for as long as you want (I do that for an hour). That doesn't just burn fat, it builds the heart and keeps it in good working order. Plus working your cardio vascular hard is good for all of your internal systems (arteries, lympatic, blood sugar, blood oxygen levels, etc).

For a person new to training and trying to lose a little weight while gaining muscle I think a piece of cardio equipment has it's place. It makes it easy to do say 20 - 30 minutes cardio and then 20 - 30 minutes weight & resistance training daily. Or alternate each day between cardio for 45 minutes, weights for 45 minutes.

If that is combined with the right nutrition (lots of protein, slow burning carbs plus fruit, veg and oils) then you will get the best muscle to fat ratio.

Eventually a guy is likely to do less cardio and more weight and resistance training but that is usually once they have dropped excess fat and now want to build the muscle to give it that 'pop' effect.

Based on my own fitness noob period I remember all of this being very confusing. But my partner and I learned a lot through trial and error. He went on to do more weights but always maintained a level of cardio using equipment (men need the resistance training to gain muscle). And as a woman I do more cardio than weights (women need to fat burn harder if we want to be lean).